Two Grizzlies qualify for NCAAs

Cragg, Mortensen qualify for NCAA Championships

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – On the strength of clocking the leading time in NCAA Division II in the 10,000 meter run at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday, Adams State senior Luke Cragg has been named as the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Men’s Track Athlete of the Week, league officials announced Wednesday.

This past weekend was the first weekend of outdoor action for the Grizzlies. While Cragg was running in California, the rest of the squad got underway at the Colorado State-Pueblo Open.

Cragg’s D-II leading time of 29 minutes, 24.01 seconds snuck in 59/100ths of a second under the automatic NCAA Championships qualifying standard, and is currently the only automatic mark in the division. He finished 18th and was the top Division II runner in the field at Stanford with the second fastest 10,000 meter time of his career.

Also notching an NCAA Championships qualifying performance on the first weekend of the outdoor season for the Grizzlies was sophomore Dyson Mortensen. Mortensen achieved a provisional mark of 2.10 meters (6’10 ¾”) in the high jump, which is currently tied for the No. 2 mark in Division II.

The Grizzlies, who were ranked second in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association Preseason Rankings which were released on Tuesday, rank third in the RMAC with two qualifying marks in the season’s early going.